I re-created Nys as a caster; despite all the initial discussion we're thus far light on them. I also find casters the most interesting classes to play in epic levels, if we're bound for those; and spells have lots of potential for shenanigans. And I sorta fell in love with Olivia.

I'll also mention that starting with a slightly large group, knowing a couple will likely drop out, can be much simpler than trying to bring in new characters later :)

I also used the Erotic Handbook for this version.

Nys VendattiElven Wizard (Transmuter)116 years old, 5'8", 150 lbs.

Nys Vendatti (Niss Venn dot ee) is the young scion of the Vendatti clan, a group of elves committed to trade, diplomacy and neutrality. The clan has a long history as nomads and craftsman, and several hundred years ago used their travels and knowledge toward trade. They now stand as a wealthy group with a mixed reputation: they are known to trade with anyone, for anything. They are the source turned to for the exotic, strange, or blatantly illegal. Recently they’ve gained both renown and condemnation as sellers of exceptional slaves.

The physical appearance of the clan – silver hair and black nails - is said to derive from a history as dusk elves coupled with an influx of drow heritage, as they utilized marriage unions to gain entry into the markets of the underworld. Relations are maintained to this day, and the Vendatti clan routinely roam the upper tunnels of the underdark. Nys himself spent many summers during his youth with his beloved "Nana," a drow matriarch and the sister of his grandfather, the closest pure drow in his line. Despite her fearsome reputation in the underdark, Nys is very fond of his Nana and often recounts stories of his adventures, mostly beginning with some sort of misbehavior - this sometimes gives him a unique viewpoint of understanding societies that don't adhere to the philosophies of men.

As the only son of the Highlord Varthen Vendatti, a remote and stern if loving man, Nys was raised with a certain expectation to one day assume a role of leadership within the clan. Despite this, the long lives of elven kind imply any ascension to serious leadership is centuries away. Varthen holds noble titles from many lands, given as reward or purchased for the convenience of nobility, and some devolve to Nys as well; however, they put little stock in them, and the only one Nys views as anything more than a credential is his clan title: the Silver Prince of the Vendatti. His training has been long and practical, including swordplay, magic and business. He's also developed a talent for body art, including piercings and both temporary and permanent inks, and sometimes utilizes slaves or friends as his canvas. Nys’ mother was killed when he was still a boy, about 70 years ago, when a lordling attacked them for transporting goods purchased from an enemy realm.

Now still a young adult by elven standards, Nys is nevertheless well traveled and much older than most mortals he encounters. His goals involve a swift rise to power, proving himself capable and bringing the Vendatti wealth and security. As the only son of the Highlord, expectations of him are high – possibly unachievably so. He is impatient and reckless by elven standards although most short lived races don’t have the same perspective on time. He has never felt any lack of bravery or honor, though he views them much differently than traditional nobility. Risk is foolish without promise of return and bringing the clan profit and success is the highest form of duty. He'll certainly help the damsel in distress: he just won't be suicidal about it, and failure to compensate him for the deed, at least within their capability, would be offensive.

His attitude towards others is likewise at times a bit mercenary, a carryover from his clan’s outlook toward business. He values honesty, dislikes inflicting harm and understands antagonism is unproductive, but is ultimately goal driven and opportunity or desperation can quickly dismiss manners. Friends are invaluable, but they don't expect favors for nothing. A true ally is someone you can expect to keep their word; and those who can do so are very rare.

Nys has extensive experience with slaves and sees nothing wrong with power and subservience, although the Vendatti are not typical of slavers. The clan views them as cherished investments and decries unnecessary abuse as inhumane and an unforgivable waste of assets. The family trade tends toward two markets: first, bondservants who are willingly sold into servitude to pay their own or family debts, with the expectation of training and placement where they will be a treasured asset with the possibility of eventual freedom: courtesans, artists, talented tradesmen and the like. Many children have been sold to the clan by families incapable of providing for all their young or unable to provide a talented child's training to rise above subsistence.

The second market involves those convicted of crimes and condemned to slavery. Even here, however, the Vendatti have little taste for brutes or hardened convicts good for nothing but manual labor; instead they look for inexpensive, undeveloped talent, particularly among the young with an eye toward rehabilitation. Like the other slaves, these are trained as investments and well cared for as valuable assets. The Vendatti's insistence that even condemned criminals be able to earn their freedom back helps inspire loyalty and dedication; usually, purchase by the Nys is salvation from a much worse fate. None of this is to say the clan never takes a firm hand, but the collar of servitude, a Vendatti trademark, is indicative of their way of thinking: better to shape and reward than to bully and force. The Vendatti deal almost exclusively in humans and other short lived races; these creatures exist on a timeline that is a reasonable length of investment for long lived elves.

Currently clan is the one thing sacred to Nys; nearly every action is weighed for its benefit to the family, and betrayal is unthinkable. He would sacrifice anything to protect them – especially for his two younger sisters.

Nys' familiar is a Raven named Olivia; as with other raven familiars she speaks common, with a lovely feminine voice. In personality she is well matched to her master, if also a frequent source of frustration for him; she is normally submissive to men and a switch with women, highly sexual, voyeuristic and enjoys shocking others with periodic vulgarity and rudeness. She takes particular delight in humiliating Nys' sexual partners: sometimes transforming simply to watch or taking advantage of his absence or distraction to taunt, tease, or torment. Although bisexual, Nys has forbidden her from touching other men: something she finds "rather fucking annoying," but abides by with the dedication of a true submissive. She is surprisingly (and rather pointlessly) kleptomaniac and often steals anything shiny and small that's left out, usually abandoning it once bored (although she is more capable of judging value than most humans, this rarely influences her desires. She particularly prizes mirrors - she's a bit of a narcissist - bits of glass, beads, buttons, and coins). She lives moment to moment, with no long term goals and a somewhat childish lack of foresight.

Several years ago, Nys crafted a unique magical item for Olivia: a silver feather that allows her to alter her shape at will. Both before and after this, the two have shared many intimate moments. Although the shapes available to her are many, her favorite is a pale human woman.

Character Links: As the representative of a merchant family, Nys could have met nearly anyone during a transaction: either personal or while working with the military, clergy, or other organization, either as a middle man or to craft a magical item himself. He's also attracted to the powerful and unique, and may have come to know several of the group simply out of curiosity. Olivia is a great ice breaker, and may have dragged him astray to get a better look at something shiny or been caught trying to steal something. Finally, Nys isn't above mercenary work and may have met adventurers on shared missions or quests.

Chi: A few years past, Olivia was attacked by a hawk while delivering a message for Nys. She landed in Chi's grove, where she was healed and spent a couple days distracting the nymphs and girl, who were pleasantly surprised by her other forms. When Nys arrived to collect her, he found himself in the feys' debt; he has since sought to repay this by aiding Chi in her quest to legitimize her claim.

Aio: The Vendatti stand by their willingness to do business with anyone willing, and the Elan is no exception despite his strangeness. Nys has been serving as a middleman between Aio and the drow, seeking to find the one responsible for the loss of the telepath's children.

Alice and Torryx: Nys has dealt with Alice and Torryx through his Clan's dealings with bondservants and slaves. As the two carried on with their divine questing they sometimes found themselves in awkward stewardship of orphans or captives not deserving of summary execution. The Vendatti promise a bright future for children and an attempt to rehabilitate the condemned. Dealings are at times strained for the proud paladin, but as Nys reassures her it's better than the street or the axe.

Sim Keen-Ear: Nys and Sim have done business a few times in the past, as he paid her for tips on market events and information about product, transactions and trading partners.

Unique Items: Collar of Submission: Developed by the Vendatti merchants to control newly captured or willful slaves, the Collar has become one of their signature items. A dynamic, although not intelligent item, it changes its form between anything from a heavy iron band to a delicate filigree choker; whatever it's mood, the effect is the same. When the Collar is placed on a humanoid they come under the effect of a Suggestion spell and are compelled to obey the owner's orders. To help with the subtle breaking of a slave's will, it automatically prevents the wearer from taking any action to harm the owner, removing the collar, moving more than 100' away from the owner unless specifically commanded, and makes the wearer feel constant sexual arousal - often coupled with commands of chastity to create a simple reward and punishment system. Because these effects are not explicitly stated, victims are often confused by their own unwillingness. The collar may only be placed on a new victim once per day. To prevent misuse, the owner's identity is set permanently during creation, and may not be altered.

Amulet of Detect Magic: A stylish although nondescript amulet set on a steel chain, this grants the user the ability to perceive magical auras and effects, as per the spell. Curiously, when viewed itself by another detect magic spell the arcane interaction produces a prismatic glow far prettier than its normal appearance, although devoid of any game effect.

Olivia's Silver Feather: Although made of silver and inscribed with elvish runes, this feather is as fine as any real one. It grants Olivia the ability to Alter Self, usually changing into a human although she sometimes enjoys other forms for mischief. Because of Olivia's tendency to lose things and her lack of ability to carry items in her raven form, the Feather was designed to take the place of a natural feather and cannot be removed without significant pain and some injury. Replacing the feather in Olivia - or in another creature - requires the use of a Piercer's craft. The Feather changes to accommodate other forms; in her human form it becomes a nose piercing, while in others it may seem to be a silver claw, fang, or something similar.

Role & Long Term Development:Nys can certainly help turn the tide of battle with key spells such as Haste, Deep Slumber or Fireball; however, he generally envisions himself as less of a warrior and more of a support; he provides augmentations, crafts gear and potions, and deals with the minutiae of logistics. He's also practiced at obtaining victims when they're alive, and sometimes even still helpful; avoiding the unpleasantness and repercussions of frequent murder.

As he develops, Nys will use his few skill points to continue to emphasize the skills that define him as a crafter and dominant: crafts, intimidate, perform, alchemy and appraise. 12th level and Forge Ring in particular will combine with his piercing profession give him an entirely new field of magical items to create, both to aid allies and subdue victims (or unlucky but lovely passersby). Access to the various Polymorph spells promise many opportunities for shenanigans, both for fun and profit.

Not sure what you mean on the Bard, Chi seems fairly melee focused, which just left a druid and a telepath (and hopefully a coming pixie caster). I guess not light, per se, but more open to my original concept than I was thinking when I first made a rogue.

Alice and the centaur are both melee types with little casting ability (possibly none with the centaur). Chi is melee focused, as said, and indarkestnight is playing a melee character. So yeah, we are more physically focused than we initially were. I think it is safe to say that we have a blend of fighters and casters no matter what.

By the way, Anon, see if you can get SteelZephyr to look at Sublime Chord spells per day. They kinda messed up on 3rd level spells, forgetting to increase them.

At this point, just need to work on setting up a couple of ties, as Videospirit mentioned. Obviously my centaur will be connected to Alice the paladin, and he can know Chi from his short time in the wild. Bards travel, and my centaur has traveled, so that is an easy tie in.

Anon, I'll PM you to help me develop some ideas since you are a centaur master.

Good point Videospirit. Oh well, maybe it wasn't the careless oversight I thought it was. Working on the background for Torryx (the centaur). I am thinking his initial home would be a plains area outside the grove Chi was from, relatively near a civilization.

So the main villain (at least early on) would be monstrous humanoids and not the succubus queen, yes? My goal for Aio was to try and make him be alien and somewhat disturbing, so his goal is to find the ones who killed his friends, the children and make them pay. He plans on doing this by making them produce more children for him to play with (so by way of impregnation, through mental manipulation or rape), would this be too much DM? I can tone it down abit if you think it is. Also, do these monstrous humanoids include say, Dark Elves? (i think it would be deliciously ironic for a proud dark elven matron to be used as a breeding tool by an eccentric creature)